"I haven't officially retired yet," Thome announced at the unveiling of his statue just beyond the centerfield wall. "I had always hoped I could do it as a Cleveland Indian and, this afternoon, I signed an honorary one-day contract so that I could make a dream come true.

"I am humbled and grateful, after a 25-year career, I am officially retiring as a member of the Cleveland Indians."

The 8-foot tall bronze statue, announced during Thome's comeback stint of 2011, was finally unveiled just outside Heritage Park.

"I don't think anyone could ever be comfortable getting a statue, I mean that respectfully," Thome said. "You play the game as a kid, you progress through high school, you get drafted, you go through the minor leagues. Nobody ever dreams of a statue, I certainly didn't."

"Jim is a player with accomplishments and statistics that warrant a statue," Indians President Mark Shapiro said. "There have been other statues and there will be more, but there will never be a person more humble or of higher character."

The statue depicts Thome in his famous batting stance pose, pointing his bat toward the pitcher. Early in his career, Thome started pointing his bat to relax at the plate. It was a suggestion by then Indians minor league hitting instructor Charlie Manuel, who saw Robert Redford do it as Roy Hobbs in the film "The Natural."

Manuel, along with Thome's former manager Mike Hargrove and teammates Carlos Baerga, Sandy Alomar, Mark Clark, Richie Sexson and Travis Hafner were in attendance to support the Indians all-time leader in home runs.

"I want people to walk by the statue 50 years from now and go, 'Those Cleveland Indians teams of the '90s were really, really good,'" Thome said.

The statue stands near the spot where Thome hit a 511-foot home run -- still the longest in the ballpark's 20-year history -- on July 3, 1999.

"I think if he had a quiet moment to stand up there by himself and look at it, he'd probably lose it."

The statue took Lakewood artist David Deming about a year to create. One of the most challenging aspects for the artist was to capture Thome's focused look at the plate. During one of their initial sessions, Deming told Thome to imagine the opposing pitcher just threw a fastball at your head.

"I wanted him to have that look on his face," Deming said. "That was important to me, to capture the intense look that he had when he was really up to bat."

Thome was amazed by the finished product. "Who critiques a statue? What David did was absolutely incredible," he said.

Thome -- who hit 337 of his 612 home runs with the Indians -- joins Bob Feller as the only franchise players honored with their own statues. There are currently no plans for more, but a club spokesman hinted that might change.

"It's humbling, it's an honor and it's something my family, I think, will live this every day the rest of their life," Thome said.

Back to that one-day contract Thome signed: Did he try to negotiate one last at-bat?

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